THE DAILY LIVES OF CANADIAN PARENTS: CORRELATES OF TIME USE

Abstract

This study focuses on how children’s characteristics (number and age) and parental characteristics (e.g. employment status, education) and day of the week are linked to parents’ daily time allocations to primary child care, domestic labour, personal care, sleeping and leisure. Also, I compare gender and marital status differences in the determinants of parents’ daily time allocations to activities studied. I find that children’s characteristics are most important to parents’ primary child care time and to married mothers’ and single mothers’ domestic labour time. Day of the week and parental characteristics such as employment status are also associated with parents’ time allocations to the activities studied. As well, I find that Canadian married mothers spend much less time on sleeping than married fathers.